Digital SLR Camera for me?
by Al
A lot of “cheaper” digital SLR cameras have been coming into the market during the last year. I am interested in moving beyond the land of my little point and shoot Fujifilm Finepix camera for a “real” digital camera. Of course, I know sweet FA about photography so I’m going to have to actually learn the skills to operate such a camera if I get one.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent digital SLR camera in the cheaper range for the dedicate amateur or hobbyist? I’ve heard decent things about some of the new Canon “Digital Rebel” models.
Since I’m going to Egypt in October with R for our annual trip, I’d like to get something and practice a bit with it in the hope of taking some nicer pictures of the various tombs and temples while we’re there.
Within the realm of point and shoot still, I’ve heard good things about the Sigma DP1 14MP Digital Camera. I have read that it has issues with speed (slow to focus, slow to store shots) but has very high quality for a point and shoot camera. Of course, it costs almost as much as the Canon XSi DSLR camera. It is hard to say what makes the most sense for me and for the photos that I want to talk. Nice cameras cost a lot of money though.
Update: My friend, John Mueller, advises me to get one of the Canon’s. He has an older generation of the Digital Rebel and has quite liked it but wishes he had a 40D, which is a nearly $1,000 camera when I looked.
Comments
The DP1 has a bunch of issues and I would not recommend it to anyone who wasn’t fully aware of it’s limitations and how to work around them.
If you are looking for something compact, pocket-able for your trip, I’d look closely at the Ricoh GX-200 and the Panasonic LX-3. The Canon G9 is also really powerful and flexible but is larger (not really pocket-able) and doesn’t have a real wide-angle without an adapter.
Skip the new Nikon P6000 because Nikon made more idiotic changes to their RAW format which is basically unsupported in all applications except Nikon’s own (which are terribly flawed) and there’s no support for OS X.
http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/blog/?p=103
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b61a1b
As to a DSLR, both Canon and Nikon made very good DSLRs. The Digital Rebel and the D40 are both really good- what will make the difference on both is the quality of the lens (budget spending perhaps even more than the camera body) and then your skills. I prefer Nikon, but it’s a personal choice and both will take great photos. I’d stay away from the Sony as there’s no telling how long they’re going to be in this category (whereas for Nikon and Canon there’s no way they’d ever leave the DSLR category.) I’m unfamiliar with the Olympus cameras.
Last thought: my favorite review site is dpreview.com. You can’t go wrong buying a camera with a top recommendation from DPReview.
Thanks, Gen. Unless I want to step up to getting one of the Canons and lenses, I may stick with the new Panasonic LX-3 when it comes out.
Of course, one of my wife’s best friends teaches photography so perhaps I should invest and get lessons.
If you have a friend that teaches photography then by all means that should be your first investment.
True but if you had any idea of how many “classes” I have demanding my attention, you might understand my reluctance to add more. I’m probably taking a graduate level class on Tibetan Tantra at the Institute of Buddhist Studies this Fall. I have a weekly Taiko class (when I’m not traveling). On top of these, I’m probably taking a class or two in the Buddhist seminary that my group is trying to get fully functioning.
Oh, and I suppose I have a job, wife, etc. too. :-)
You are right that it would be a good thing to do. No matter what camera I’m using, even my rinky dink current one, I expect that she could teach me quite a bit about photography since she teaches it and has had gallery showings of her work.
I think that presently the best feature/price ratio belongs to Canon SLRs. But that may soon change as Panasonic is developing completely new camera that breaks borderline between compacts and SLR's. Search for their G1 camera that will be probably coming in 2009. It may be worth the waiting…